


One Night in Saigon

by terracotta_heartbreak



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, But it's actually them in a hotel room, Klaus Hargreeves & David "Dave" Katz During Vietnam, M/M, Not at all smutty, POV David "Dave" Katz, POV Third Person Limited, Reference to 'queer' used in a homophobic context, Smoking, Vietnam War, but y'know, this fic is just Klaus and Dave so any homophobia is just referenced offhand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29560602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terracotta_heartbreak/pseuds/terracotta_heartbreak
Summary: They're drunk, they're in a Saigon Hotel, and Klaus is smoking on the bed, but that's nothing new. But it's such an odd thing to be alone together, that doe-eyed strange man who never made sense here, and the soldier who'd fallen for him, for all those eccentricities. How are you meant to make sense of each other in the 60s, in that musky haze of war, drugs and the sounds of political blues rock?
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	One Night in Saigon

Warm light was streaking through the curtains, reflecting off the coloured beads and all around the room at all possible angles. The hot, sticky air smelt of musk and marijuana, and every little thing built up that atmosphere of a late summer evening. Perhaps it was captivating, that kind of thing you'd only dream off growing up in the middle of Texas. It felt so perfect, so foreign, so different from the world Dave had thought he'd known a few years ago. Everything about this night took Dave's breath away, yet all he could think about right now was the man in the room with him. 

Dave had watched him get through progressively stronger glasses of various spirits as the night died it’s strange death, and now he was sprawled out on a hotel bed, lighting the cigarette held in place by his teeth.   
  
“Funny...” Mumbled Klaus between puffs of smoke, seemingly distracted. “It’s nothing like the last time I was in a room like this,”

As the smoke diluted into the haze, Dave chuckled, not knowing what Klaus meant. All he could assume was that the man was drunk and saying the first things that came to his mind - it hadn't taken long for him to realise Klaus was a particularly hard drinker. It didn't bother him, but it _did_ worry him. 

"Hope you weren't sleeping with someone else,"

Dave spoke softly, eyes glancing at the way Klaus looked in this almost beautiful light. It was something from a photograph, but he didn't have a way to capture him in this way forever, lying there in a crop top with his dark hair in a tangle. Klaus didn't seem to notice he was staring, and Dave didn't realise it either until the song playing from the bar across the street changed. Blues rock, the best kind of music, with the hypnotic guitars that reminded him of home once more. It wasn't like this kind of stuff had been the thing before he'd joined the war, and half the bands ended up being English, but it was sung in a language he knew like the back of his hand and the style had something of those Texan summers infused into its veins.

After holding words on the end of his lips for what felt like an eternity, Klaus sighed gently, held out his cigarette for Dave to take a drag, then spoke again.

"It was before we met - actually, I think it was _exactly_ that - right before we met. Got beat up by a scary lady, I think. Not like any of that matters now, right?"

Reaching for the cigarette, Dave sat on the bed and took a better look at the face of his friend - friend, he wanted to be so much more than that. He took the time to read the lines, the nuances, the way Klaus' eyes were practically closed, maybe just to be dramatic. It seemed to him that if Klaus was sober he might remember better, but he didn't want to press, not when Klaus had forced a laugh and was already changing the topic. Dave just took a drag and blew the smoke away from where they were sat.

"Why'd you end up here anyhow?" Klaus continued. 

"You wanna be more specific?"

Klaus waved a hand (and once again Dave caught a sight of that 'goodbye' tattoo). It probably meant for Dave to take the question however he wanted, but sometimes the more freedom you had, the harder it was to think of an answer. 

"Vietnam? Uh-" _C'mon David. Think, think, think._ "Well, I guess- my uncle Brian fought in Korea,"

Klaus raised an eyebrow, but looked genuinely interested. "One of those all American families where half the sons end up shipped off to some kind of war?"

Weird. Dave had to take a moment to think about it. Were they? It certainly ran in the family, but it hadn't been instilled in him. His mom was sweet and always seemed to think anything he wanted to do was worth supporting, but uncle Brian was something else, a little bit more insistent that going to war was what made a man. But really, what was it that'd brought him here?

"Would it be weird if I said President Kennedy? I mean- sure, my uncle had ideas about what I should do before I even came, but I think it was what happened-"

Dave trailed off, but Klaus gave him an almost thoughtful, wide-eyed nod of understanding.

"Of course-" He said, breathily. Dave reminded himself this man must've had half a bottle of Jack Daniels tonight, and much more. "You were in **Dallas**. I can imagine- the President coming to visit, only for him to _die_ like that, all those dreams of a better America dying with him..." 

Even though Dave didn't understand what was funny, Klaus laughed, something that sounded dry and sarcastic.

"Good luck with that one,"

But then Dave was really lost, and he squinted a little, asking "What? What do you mean by that?"

Silence hit them again, and Klaus seized the moment to guide Dave's hand to his lips, press the cigarette back in his mouth, then make a futile attempt to have another smoke. He was sure he heard Klaus mumble "shit," and then pull his lighter out to re-light the damn thing, so he kept his hand at a safe distance. He stroked Klaus' ear with it, feeling the curls of his hair as he did so. 

"Making sense of it," Klaus said after Dave looked to him for an answer. "Now it makes sense,"

"You're not making any sense,"

"Heard that one a lot, actually. Last guy I stayed with used to say-"

"Klaus-"

"- but then, I did speak a lot of Russian whenever his- _that_ part's irrelevant! my point is-"

"Klaus do you even believe in the war?"

Dave could see how his face contorted a little at the question, the kind of discomfort it brought in Klaus. It was the kind of face of someone who just wanted to avoid a topic, maybe because he knew something he shouldn't, but after a moment Dave watched Klaus force it into a smile. 

"Sure. I mean, as far as you can call guns and trying to interfere in Vietnam totally civilised and American," It was a lie, a sarcastic lie framed like a joke and they both knew it. "I wouldn't say I'd _choose_ to fight,"

Choose? Did Klaus get to choose? Dave had more questions, more things he wanted to ask. His mind was racing now, and the drink didn't help his memory much. Klaus... Klaus, Klaus, Klaus... how could he ever forget waking up to the sight of Klaus, looking like a lost puppy, clinging to a briefcase for dear life, dressed in nothing but a towel and a jacket. And the more he thought about it, nothing ever made sense about Klaus. Klaus spoke Vietnamese yet seemed unfamiliar with Vietnam itself. Klaus had no ID or records or anything tying him to the military but he seemed to fight anyway. Klaus had quite literally come from nowhere, known nothing, known nobody, yet here he was, in the flesh.

Dave watched him for a moment, unsure what to say or what he was even thinking right now. 

"So why'd you stay?"

There was a look on Klaus' face now, and Dave was studying it like an oil painting again. He probably needed to stop doing this, but he couldn't help it. Klaus was such a mystery, and there were so many things he didn't know about him yet, but he wanted to know them all. But now, Klaus seemed to regain some of that vulnerability, the softer look Dave had seen a few times when they had conversations like this. And when Klaus reached for one of the empty glasses sat at the bedside table, Dave's palm found itself atop Klaus', wordlessly stopping him from drinking much more. All he wanted was the truth.

Klaus sighed.

"I thought I was being _obvious_ ," 

What? Obvious about what? What exactly _was_ there to be-

Dave didn't notice how his own hand was shaking when he reached for the side of Klaus' face, just like he did before. Funny... But did that mean Klaus didn't mind? Did it mean he-? All Dave's natural instincts for caring and supporting people seemed to control him, especially if he'd had a few. He hadn't realised it'd been a romantic thing until now, and he was sort of taken aback by the way Klaus didn't reject it, the way Klaus didn't look like he was about to punch him or call him a queer. Dave was still discovering himself, still discovering the world around him, but right know he realised that this strange, beautiful man might just be part of that. 

And the look in Klaus' eyes seemed to be echoing his every thought, like a mirror. Were they in sync? Right now, were they in sync with each other, two drunken souls finally finding the courage to confess to each other, but still scared to screw it all up. 

Dave inhaled a shaky breath, hand still on the side of Klaus' face. This was it, wasn't it? This was the moment, the moment that would make or break them, and he was scared, scared to fuck it up. It took him a moment to realise that he'd actually done it, he'd actually leaned in and pressed his lips against Klaus', closer than he'd ever been before. It took a moment to realise that he was guiding Klaus' face down to meet his, that his eyes had closed, that everything felt natural and fit like a glove. Sure, he tasted of cigarettes and smoke, but that didn't matter.

And Klaus wasn't pulling away, he wasn't doing anything other than Kissing him back, almost as if Klaus had been waiting for this moment too. Had he really been this lucky?

An eternity later, they parted, and Dave could see Klaus was smiling. 

No- laughing, chuckling through the magic of it all, and the streams of light were illuminating his face in an even more beautiful way.

"You're not gonna punch me for that, right?"

"Not unless you change your tune in the morning," Klaus said bluntly, but Dave caught the flirtatiousness in his behaviour.

But maybe it showed that Klaus was worried too, worried that he'd turn out to change his tune when he was sober. But Dave wasn't like that, he'd always wanted to do this. He'd always wanted to get this close, but he never knew how until now. But now he knew Klaus felt the same, he didn't think he could go back again, back to the sexual tension of just being friends.

Dave took a moment to pull that hand away from Klaus, and thought up the best way to answer.

"You never told me why you stayed," Dave said gently, but he'd worked it out now. "But I feel the same way. You're- I don't mind the war when you're around,"

Klaus shuffled a little, in an attempt to get Dave some more space on the bed, and Dave followed suit, readjusting his position from sitting off the side of it to sitting adjacent to the skinnier man. For a moment, Klaus started to scratch the back oh his neck. Was he nervous about something? Thinking about something? But finally, Klaus shrugged.

"It's complicated."

Dave felt his heart beating out of his chest, had he been wrong, or-?

"But, yeah, yeah, I love you... Dave," He said, in a slow, breathy kind of voice, face falling into some soft expression of real affection. "You're kind and _strong_ and I've never-"

"Shush," Muttered Dave, putting a finger to Klaus' lips then silencing him with another kiss. He wanted to stay with him like this forever, to make him feel special, to keep being asked questions by Klaus and to keep kissing him and kissing him until the sun came up. 


End file.
